Experimental study on soil evaporation of different intercropping patterns for maize and soybean

To accurately estimate soil water dynamics of intercropping and make reasonable irrigation schedule, soil evaporation at different locations of different intercropping patterns for maize and soybean was measured to analyze the relationship between relative soil evaporation intensity and topsoil water content and the relationship between the relative soil evaporation intensity and leaf area index using Micro-Lysimeters. The results indicate that there are differences between soil evaporation at different locations, the cumulated evaporation of 2︰3 intercropping pattern is higher than that of 1︰3 intercropping pattern. In addition, the relative soil evaporation intensity is exponential increasing with topsoil water content, while it is exponential decline with leaf area index.